Unity of Mission: Civilian-Military Teams in War and Peace
Abstract
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been an integral part of the American consciousness for most of the new millennium. Military successesand failureshave dominated the headlines. Names such as Tora Bora, Abbottabad, Abu Ghraib, and Fallujah, unknown to the American public (and even regional specialists at the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom) a decade ago, have become catch phrases for a new generation of political and military analysts. Yet perhaps the most enduring legacy of US involvement in these wars has been the evolution of US military doctrine and the concomitant growth of the whole-of-government approach that puts stability operations and civil affairs on equal footing with combat operations.The whole-of-government approach is defined as one where a government actively uses formal and/or informal networks across the different agencies within that government to coordinate the design and implementation of the range of interventions that the governments agencies will be making in order to increase the effectiveness of those interventions in achieving the desired objectives. While these principles have exerted influence in national security strategies in the United States and among NATO other organizations since the mid-twentieth century, the concept was distilled early in the first decade of this century. It underlays work on stability operations, complex operations,peacebuilding, and counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine. The COIN doctrine, an innovative set of principles not unlike those guiding the Vietnam-era Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) program, has become the military analysts coin of the realm. COIN doctrine puts a premium on protecting civilians over killing the enemy, using minimum force on the battlefield, emphasizing governance and development projects, and building local capacity and ownership.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1013810
Entities
People
- Jon Gundersen
- Melanne A. Civic
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory